Apr 23, 2012

All the flavors you love from buffalo wings without all the added fat.

Making shredded buffalo chicken in the slow cooker is super easy, anyone can do this and you can use the chicken for everything from wraps and salads, to pizza toppings, sandwiches and more! A great low-carb, gf way I like to eat this is in a lettuce wrap topped with shredded carrots, celery and blue cheese dressing. I used my skinny blue cheese dressing (not included in n.i.) or if you're not a fan of blue cheese, you can use my skinny ranch.

In a crock pot, combine chicken, onions, celery stalk, garlic and broth (enough to cover your chicken, use water if the can of broth isn't enough). Cover and cook on high 4 hours.

Remove the chicken from pot, reserve 1/2 cup broth and discard the rest. Shred the chicken with two forks, return to the slow cooker with the 1/2 cup broth and the hot sauce and set to on high for an additional 30 minutes. Makes 3 cups chicken.

To prepare lettuce cups, place 1/2 cup buffalo chicken in each leaf, top with 1/4 cup shredded carrots, celery and dressing of your choice. Wrap up and start eating!

Another tip I got from a cooking mag was to put your crock with all the ingredients in the fridge the night before. The extra time it takes to heat up the ceramic crock will buy your chicken some time and help lessen the drying out while you are at work.

Perfect! I loved your buffalo chicken dip and was looking for a way to make it more friendly as an entree. I'll definitely be making this one. Also LOVE the blue cheese recipe - I make that practically evey week.

A tip I got from pinterest... If you put the still hot chicken into a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the paddle attachment, the chicken shreds perfectly in like 10 seconds. Its totally worth washing the extra bowl.

Thanks so much for this! I love shredded chicken/pork, but I have arthritis and shredding is sooooo painful. By the time I'm done I don't even care about the food anymore!! Will definitely be using this.

Hi! Just discovered your blog yesterday (already made the cream of zuchinni soup and Loved it!) and I just have to tell you how head over heels in love I am with your blog! It came to me at Just the right time when I was looking for easy, healthy recipes for my family! Thank you!Joia =0)

I made up a shredded chicken in the crock pot a few weeks ago with carots and celery. I used some of it to make chicken soup and frozen the rest in 2 cups bags. I figured I could use it for different casseroles etc.. This will be perfect. Thanks

I didn't read all the comments, so someone might have already let you know that both the links to other buffalo chicken recipes take us to the buffalo wings and neither to the buffalo chicken dip. Love your site! I made the pepper steak stir fry tonight and it was delish, but my favorite is still the chicken enchiladas :)

To make it even a little more nutritious/nutrient dense, use Kale or Rainbow Chard. It alters the flavor a little and doesn't have the crunch that you get from iceburg lettuce but there is so much more goodness in there!

Gina, I love your recipes and have made several of them- can't wait to try this one!! One question though, I have a baby tongue and can't handle spicy foods. Is the hot sauce your recommended really spicy, or are there milder versions of that sauce? What other sauces would you recommend for flavor, but not really for spiciness? Thank you!! :)

Does anyone have recommendations on how to make this with the buffalo chicken taste, but mild? Thanks! I love all of the recipes I've tried so far from this site! Most earn the "better than [great] restaurant quality" label by my hubby & go on the repeat list. So great to be yummy & healthy!! Thanks!

Made this tonight, with Frank's Buffalo Style Sauce (instead of the regular hot sauce). It was SOOOO GOOD. I was impressed on how delicious the chicken tasted before I even added the sauce. So versatile for so many dishes!

I've cooked about 100 recipes from Skinny Taste, and this is one of my favorites. My husband had to stop himself at 3 wraps, and my 5 year old son ate his (along with the homemade blue cheese dressing) on a tortilla. Excellent flavor without the added fat. Thank you so much for making healthy delicious food!

Oooh, excellent idea! I love the lettuce wraps but the rest of the family aren't the biggest fans. I'll just put out the tortillas too and everyone will be happy! Lettuce wraps for me, taco-style for everyone else! THANKS! :)

:) I made it last night!! Had to skip the crock pot as I was to starving to wait the 4 hours ;) The celery, garlic, onion, and broth make the most delicious chicken. Also made the blue cheese dressing. Yummers! Thanks Gina!!!

To all more experienced cooks, this is an emergency call. This is not an exercise, I repeat, this is not an exercise. ;)

I tried to make a pulled chicken right now ...

I took a chicken breast, added bbq sauce, put it in a bag, removed the air and dropped it into water. That was about 2h 45min ago. The Temperatur was between 75°C (167°F)and 80°C (176°F). Do you think it's ready?

This sounds like a great recipe!! One question though.....why discard the broth? Why not add a few more veggies like carrots and kale or whatever you put in to make a nice stock and then use it to make a delicious soup or strain and use as stock for other recipes? That's my plan :o)

Here's a 'hack' for you: Hubs and I are doing low carb and makes wings alot; but we usually make jerk wings, not plain hot ones. So we boiled some chicken, shredded it, added some butter to a saute pan, added chicken, added this sauce:

Oh Gina...I have been on Weight Watchers for a year and have so missed my hot wings, so I made this last night to have for supper tonight...I used the laughing cow cheese wedge (Blue Cheese Flavor) and wrapped it in a high fiber low carb tortilla...omg...I can not tell you how wonderful this is...thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY!!! I have lost 85# and have about 25 to goal and this is gonna help me get there. thanks again!!! Linda

We had this for dinner tonight. The hubs wasn't into the lettuce wrap(although piled it into his tortilla). Awesome!! The kids had mac and cheese and gotta say buffalo drippings on the mac was tasty too.

Hi Gina,This is my first post. I started WW a couple of months ago and I honestly didn't think I could stick to the plan until I was told about your site from a friend. All of the recipes I have tried are so yummy and I would never know they are guilt free. My husband said I've been cooking the most delicous food we've eaten in the 5 years we've been married and my 2 yr old daughter LOVED your stuffed pepper soup recipe that I made last week! Thank you, thank you!! BTW, this buffalo chicken recipe was awesome!

This was another winner. I used turkey tenderloin because it was so much cheaper than chicken breasts, and it turned out great! Ate it with the blue cheese dip (also very yummy) with carrots & celery in the lettuce cups as Gina suggested, and it was a very tasty dinner!

These were good! I had it in lettuce cups, my husband had it on corn tortillas and my daughter had it on a whole wheat roll. Everyone was happy! (my husband made nachos the next day and put the leftovers on his nachos! He was very happy!!)

I have to say, I've been on WW a couple of times before, with limited success. This time I don't see any problems in my future with a site like this! One of the best recipes ever, diet or not! Thank you!

I love your site... I found it last week and have literally made 6 recipes. I am making this one now, for dinner tomorrow. I have loved everything I've made so far and I cannot wait to try this. I enjoy all of the delicious food but in a healthy manner. Who does eating right can't be delish? Obviously they haven't visited your site. <3

My new favorite!!! I needed some healthy carbs so I did a whole wheat tortilla instead of lettuce. Now if Franks Red Hot Sauce came in low sodium it would be perfect but that would probably compromise the taste. Thanks for this one and I can't wait to cook this for friends!!!

I made this for the family and they loved it. The blue cheese dressing really puts this recipe over the top. My advice is to make sure your lettuce leaves are dried really well. Wet lettuce made my first wrap a bit messy, but so delicious!

Thanks for a great recipe - the entire family loved it! I LOVE the buffalo chicken taste, but don't like anything fried or chicken with skin, so it's hard to find the taste without those things. This is delicious, easy, and low-cal to boot! Even my carb-loving hubby loved the lettuce wraps (although he also had one on a low-carb tortilla and said that was terrific too!) I can't tell you how many times hubby said that this was one of the most awesome thing I've made in a long time. So tasty, I will be making this probably once a week this summer!

Thanks for another amazing recipe! I made this tonight for my boyfriend and I... we both fell in LOVE!! I can't say enough how helpful your website has been on my journey to healthy eating. It is sites like yours that have inspired me to start my own blog with low-cal recipes, Delaine's Skinny Delights. Check it out if you have a chance... I would love to hear any input you may have :)

I made this for dinner tonight and OMG this is delicious! I love spicy food, but I think I'm gonna have to cut the cayenne pepper sauce in half next time I make it! WOWSERZ!! That was hot! I ate this in the lettuce wraps like the recipe calls for and my fiancee ate them in a low carb tortilla! We will definitely be making these again! Thanks for the great recipe!

i made these for dinner tonight. they were very good. i used half of the franks hot sauce and ate them as lettuce wraps. i will be having the leftovers with tortillas. definite thumbs up. they were simple to make, inexpensive, and low cost.

So since I love shortcuts and hate leftovers... I bought a package of pulled rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, and just microwaved it with a little chicken stock and Frank's buffalo sauce. It worked like a charm for a quick single serving! :)

I absolutely love this recipe! The first time I made it for my roommate and our friends and there was nothing left at the end - everyone else loved it too! I made another batch shortly after so I could take it to work for lunch throughout the week. One serving is perfect with a 2 point medium whole wheat tortilla. I just smear the dressing on the tortilla, place my lettuce wrap on top , fill with the chicken, carrots and celery and then wrap it all up! Yum! Thanks for another fantastic recipe, Gina!

Just made this and it was awesome!! I added a dash of franks buffalo wing sauce also and it was perfect. it gave me the fix I needed for my wings craving and it was very filling. Thanks for such a great recipe!

My sister made this dish yesterday and it was DEELISH!!! Since she doesn't like spicy food we used bbq sauce instead of the hot sauce. Also THANKS to the person that shared the shredding tip, it worked out beautifully! I'll never shred by hand again! This is a light and refreshing dish that will go into rotation in our home!

I've made this several times and didn't always have celery on hand each time, and thought it still came out well without it. I definitely think using the onion and/or garlic gives it a good flavor though.

Hello! I'm making this recipe tonight and I cannot wait to eat it. Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts? Also, what do you recommend as a side dish with this? Thanks for sharing such fabulous recipes :)

I made this for dinner tonight and it was really good! I used reduced fat blue cheese crumbles instead of dressing. I also paired it with baked sweet potato fries and slices of fresh tomato with salt and pepper. Yum!

I just made this with generic hot sauce. It's good but I would recommend Franks Red Hot for a better taste. As a wimp when it comes to spice I find the 1/2 cup was fine, but I may have used more chicken.

Hey, Gina! This is about to go into the crock pot. I decided to use this in pumpernickel wraps, so I am making the blue cheese broccoli slaw that you posted with the buffalo turkey burgers. I think it's all going to pair very well together!

As I am rereading this, I just realized that I told my husband to put the hot sauce in with the chicken, chicken broth, onions, etc. Is there anything I can do fix this mistake when I get home tonight?

Made this over Memorial Day and everyone who brought sandwiches and subs to the lake house for lunch was very jealous! Delicious! It's messy though, I was thinking of maybe adding a bit of cornstarch with the hot sauce to thicken up the sauce, so the lettuce wraps aren't so drippy.

Made this as directed 3 times now - and it comes out terrific! I've found that adjusting broth/hot sauce ratio is all that's needed to control "drippiness." Add liquids to shredded chicken slowly until just absorbed. Hubby and 8 year old LOVE this on salad, in lettuce wraps, on sprouted tortillas, etc. Quite a hit with a little sprinkled blue cheese or jalapeno ranch dressing, too.

Thank you, thank you, a thousand times THANK YOU!!! I have been trying to find a place with healthy recipes that are for real food. Finally stumbled onto your blog from a comment on another site and found 4 just on the front page. Can not wait to dig into all your recipes! Thank you for taking the time to put out these healthy recipes for real people to eat. By 'real' I mean, simple, inexpensive, regular food. Not these fancy, 32 ingredient, 28 of which you'll never use for anything else, recipes on most other sites! Again I say, thank you!!! :-)

Well, I tried this for my husband tonight - it was a bomb! He laughed at my lettuce wraps. I wanted to try something I figured he'd like - buffalo chicken. He ate it, but said he wasn't impressed. Personally, I loved the flavor of the chicken prior to the hot sauce.

Made this for my family today and we all loved it! We made wraps; that is, we had the shredded chicken on flour tortillas with romaine lettuce, blue cheese dressing, and blue cheese crumbles. We also want to try the shredded chicken on a salad. Will be great as well I am sure. THANK YOU!

These were great! So easy and yummy. I served them on the lettuce as pictured, fully expecting my husband to get up and stuff it all in a tortilla, but he LOVED them! I found it to be super filling (2 lettuce wraps for me was a little too much).

The only thing I did differently was add the 1/2 cup Franks in the beginning (ooops). I don't think it would matter much, except that was almost all the Franks I had and the taste wasn't very strong after cooking, so in the last 1/2 hour I added about 1/4 cup Franks and some BBQ sauce and it was very yummy. I almost think 1/2 cup would be too spicy for me, although I'm sure my husband would love it.

And glad to see I'm not the only one who had sauce dripping everywhere. I'll try to add a little less in the last half hour next time.

Thanks!

OH! And I cooked it on low for 8 hours as some people have asked and the chicken basically fell apart. Delicious.

I made this today for lunch and it was both light AND filling at the same time!! I don't know how you do it Gina... I am OBSESSED with your blog! I just finished baking some Pineapple Bliss cupcakes for a pool party tomorrow!!

These were great. I admit to taking a shortcut, using chicken I already had shredded and frozen, but followed the rest of the directions. The blue cheese dressing was great. Leftovers made a fun chopped salad for lunch, and more leftovers will become a Buffalo Chicken pizza for dinner tomorrow.

Love the recipe, looking forward to trying it!One question/comment:Why would you discard the liquid the chicken cooked in? This is practically a light stock or poaching liquid.I'd strain it and freeze it in cubes or baggies for future use!

I love this recipe so much I've made it twice now. I have been eating the chicken in high fiber, low carb, whole grain tortillas with romaine lettuce and a little blue cheese dressing. Today I made the best salad with the chicken, a lot of romaine lettuce, some fresh avocado, grape tomatoes, diced red onion, and just a drizzle of plain yogurt. Best salad EVER!

I made this tonight for my lunch this week.. I can't wait to have lunch. It's soo delicious. I also made the blue cheese dressing from scratch. The night before I made the sausage stuffed zucchini boats. Huge hit with my family. Thank you so much for you recipes Gina. I am just getting started on Weight Watchers and this has made the transition from eating fast food to actually enjoying home cooked meals so much easier.

We love this recipe! Sometimes we do it as lettuce wraps My husband really likes wrapping it in a low carb tortilla & blue cheese. Tonight I'm doing it as a Buffalo chicken salad w/ light ranch dressing (not a big fan of blue cheese). We've eaten it as sandwiches w/ jalapenos on it. Sometimes I just eat it by itself! So tasty!! So easy to make and makes wonderful leftovers!

I know there are already a million comments on this post, but I hope one more is okay. I just wanted to say that I made this with the blue cheese dip for my boyfriend and roommate last night and they (and I!) loved it! This is definitely going in my meal rotation :)

I finally made this tonight and it was awesome!! I used Frank's Wing Sauce which has an added butter flavor but no extra calories. My husband said the chicken would be good cold too. Perfect for a hot summer day.

I made this for my husband today and it was so delicious. He loves buffalo wings and this is the perfect healthy alternative. He actually said, "Whoever thought up this recipe is a genius." :) Thanks Gina!!!

I made this recipe last week- definitely created a lot of broth, which was nice because I can use it for another recipe. As a household of only two, we had lots of leftovers. We started to get sick of them (how is that even possible?!), so today I took the leftover shredded buffalo chicken (approximately 1.5 c) and mixed it with 1/2 cup Chobani plain yogurt, 1/2 stick of Neufchatel cream cheese (a lighter version of cream cheese), and some blue cheese crumbles. Microwaved for a few minutes, stirred well, and it was AWESOME!

I make my own! Sometimes I will use 3/4 my own with 1/4 of franks to cut the sodium. So really you could use any ratio of the two you like.

I found this Buffalo Sauce recipe in a comments/forum section of myfitnesspal: although I usually halve the chili and red pepper and sometimes double the vinegar because I almost singed my eyebrows off the first time I made it(the sauce that is) for my boyfriend!

The only real source of sodium in it is the chili powder which does contain salt.

Simmer for 5 minutes. Add more vinegar to taste. The more vinegar you add, the thinner it gets and tastes more and more like bottled sauce. I prefer butter to olive oil b/c it seems to give it a sweeter, smoother taste.

I tried to comment on a conversation way up above, but the reply button would not work. I wanted to caution those who were discussing placing food into crock pot and refrigerating overnight. Do not put crockpot dish itself into frig; the extra time it takes to warm up the dish the next day is extra time your raw meat is sitting at a temp that is not safe. I have read in two sources that this is unsafe to do.

Hi Gina,I am new at using a crockpot and have a question. My hubby bought a Kitchen aid crockpot rather large in size. One thing that I am concerned about is the lid it has a glass and rubber lid but when I close it there is space between the lid and actual pot. Is that normal? I thought it should have a good seal. what type do you use. and does the size of the pot matter? Thanks! E

Had these last night. I let the chicken cook all day while I was at work. Once I got home I had printed off your recipes for skinny ranch and blue cheese, and your skinny cheese sticks. While I finished up the chicken, my three teens fixed the other 3 things. I handed them the recipe and they went at it. Very proud of them. Everything turned out great. The cheese sticks were the best we have ever had. 3 of us had the chicken on lettuce and the other 2 had them on soft taco shells. They were a hit.

I made this last night and loved it! Make sure you follow the directions for the liquid b/c I got a little over-zealous with the Frank's and it was a bit more sloppy than I would like. The measurements are perfect, don't mess with them!

I highly recommend not deviating from making them lettuce wraps. The spiciness of the Frank's pairs beautiifully with the cool crispness of the lettuce, plus you won't get that terrible bloated feeling afterward from the starchy carbs of a tortilla, bread, or rice. I will make a sandwich with the leftovers but I beg you, try it with the lettuce. You won't be disappointed!

Found this on pinterest, and I never make time to go back and comment, but I seriously had to this time! I made it as written and it wasn't too spicy for my 6 year old and my very picky husband loved it! This will be a staple at my house from now on! We don't do blue cheese, but you don't need it! Yummy! Thanks